In our blurry-eyed terror we have confused the ally for the enemy. The Bush administration has besieged this country’s peaceloving Muslim community, destroying organizations that provide aid for Muslims domestically and internationally on generally unfounded and rarely proven charges alleging connections to terrorism. It has victimized thousands of Muslims since September 11, 2001—searched, interrogated, and arrested without warrant—instilling fear in individuals and communities across the United States.

Perhaps worst of all, the Bush administration has begun what appears to be the systematic deportation of religious leaders. Many of the imams whose visas were processed after 9/11 have either been deported or have fled the country voluntarily, fearing the surveillance and interrogation faced by imams charged before them. All have seen how other imams who have only had charges brought against them have suffered. The charges, according to Dr. Zulfiqar Ali Shah, religious director of the Islamic Center of Milwaukee, are “sometimes beyond human comprehension or human control.”

While the judiciary has largely rejected these ludicrous charges, the time victims spend between being charged and actually going to court is detrimental. “People languish in jail, and they lose their businesses, and their families aren’t supported,” said Muhammad Isa Sadlon, Executive Director and CEO of the Islamic Society of Milwaukee. “It’s terrorism against us and our families, our religion, and our culture.”

In deporting qualified imams and denying visas to Muslim religious directors, the Bush administration has crippled the practice of Islam in America, a country built on the ideal of religious freedom. “Faith figures in a lot of idealized narratives about what America is,” Professor Zareena Grewal, a specialist in Islam in America at Yale University, said. “Faith is seen by many Americans as a check on politics, and by many Muslim Americans as well. The religious fiber of America is perceived by believers as a kind of moral check on the country at large.”

While patriotism, in its moderate form, demands that one honestly examine both the strengths and flaws of one’s country, there is pressure on these imams to practice an uncritical patriotism that bears a striking resemblance to the nationalistic policies of the world’s most totalitarian regimes. This sad reality is not lost on the Muslim community. According to Grewal, the imams who conform to this expectation have been nicknamed “Bush’s Pet Muslims,” and have lost the respect of their communities.

There are those who argue that the persecution and constant surveillance of Muslim communities is necessary to ensure the safety of U.S. citizens through preventive action against Islamic extremism. “I don’t think this will make Islam more moderate in the United States,” Grewal remarked. “If anything, it makes Muslim Americans feel more resentment and alienation; there’s artificial flagwaving out of fear rather than genuine patriotism, an invasion of the private and sacred space of the mosque by the policing arm of the state, and as a result, imams lose their moral authority because they are perceived as puppets of the state too scared to say anything critical,” she claimed.

She added: “All of this creates more unrest, more frustration. I’m not saying that this drives people to extremism or violence, but it doesn’t help when Muslim Americans who are already frustrated with foreign policy find that even the intimate spaces of their mosques in the U.S. are being violated and scrutinized in this way.”

There is hope that these discriminatory practices will cease with the completion of President Bush’s term. However, the fear and mistrust instilled in America’s Muslim community will not be easily undone. In words that epitomize the current paranoia of the Muslim community, Dr. Shah stated, “This is without exception: if you look different, you are a target. If you are a Muslim, you are being watched.”

It is time that American citizens watch their own government and recognize its policies for what they are: blatant religious persecution. Rather than wait for a more enlightened administration in the future, the American people must rise from apathy today to demand that our government not sacrifice the rights of the “other” for a paranoid “security” that threatens the very tenets of this country.

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